President Obama disappointed gay supporters yesterday with his decision not to sign an executive order banning discrimination of L.G.B.T. people by federal employers, the New York Times reports.
Activists said the order had support from the Labor and Justice Departments. Mr Obama endorses creating legislation to protect L.G.B.T. people against discrimination on the grounds of sexuality of gender identity, rights which are offered under the current laws.
However the President lacks sufficient votes in Congress and so will not be issued in the near distant future, an administration official, speaking anonymously, said today.
He said: “While it is not our usual practice to discuss executive orders that may or may not be under consideration, we do not expect that an executive order on L.G.B.T. nondiscrimination for federal contractors will be issued at this time.
“We support legislation that has been introduced and we will continue to work with Congressional sponsors to build support for it.”
Until now Mr Obama has adopted a “we can’t wait” campaign, signing executive orders on a variety of issues, arguing that “we can’t wait” for legislation the Republicans in Congress refuse to pass.
Campaign-funding members of the gay community who were initially willing to overlook the President’s failure to legalise same sex marriage if he prioritised this anti-discrimination order, are now angered.
Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign attended a White House meeting on Wednesday called by Valerie Jarrett, one of Mr. Obama’s closest advisers.
He told the New York Times afterwards: “We are extremely disappointed with this decision and will continue to advocate for an executive order from the president. The unfortunate truth is that hard-working Americans can be fired simply for being gay or transgender.”
